Inhale, exhale…
Daybreak, evening dusk…
Life goes in, life goes out…
A daily rhythm of beginning and end set on repeat, or is it?
How are your days spent? Is there a balance between the living of life followed by a renewing and refueling? Are we pacing ourselves to successfully keep the steady rhythm of a breath in and a breath out or is life one big exhale? Is there a hurry to our days that is consumed by the next activity and the checking off our “to do” lists that makes our exhales bigger and our inhale of a renewing breath a forgotten idea in all the craziness?
God beckons us each day with soft whispers of “come and be with me, be still and know, listen and hear my voice”- all whispers of His renewing spirit that are so needed to balance out the exhales of our day. Soaking in His presence is the inhale we need after letting go our breath in one swoosh to make it through the busy of our days. His calm and grace is just what we need to fill the empty space left behind by the exhale of life. He gave us our first breath when He chose life for us and lovingly filled us with the breath of life.
Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. Genesis 2:7
God knows just what we need and desires to pull us into His inhale of grace as soon as we let go of the schedules that crowd our days. He calls us to stop, rest and let Him renew our very souls. He calls us to listen and read the promises that are ours in His word. He says in 2 Timothy 3:16-17…
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
Renewing ourselves with His word will equip us for a new day to set out and do the work that God calls us to do. Our busy is our excuse to to cover up the real, messy and important conversations that God is craving to have with each of us.
Make time to stop today. Allow God and His Word to refresh and restore the big exhale into a deep inhale of the fragrance of God. Soak in these words from Titus and let them wash away the messy of your day.
But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior Titus 3:4-6
Remember…
[Tweet “When life is one big exhale, God’s sweet breath of grace & love restores and renews.”]
Praying for all that we let God create the steady rhythm of our inhales and exhales.
Blessings,
Mary
Blessed to be linking with:
Faith and Friends Blog Hop at Five Minutes for Faith
While my Brothers are relinquishing their lives on a beach on the other side of the world, I still dream of a beach’s warmth to heal my body. There is a part of that which screams loudly “so wrong!” in my spirit. it reminds me that I can never allow myself to go back to the day-in day-out lukewarm lifestyle.
Beautiful words, Heather! May we all continue to embrace ourselves with God’s strength as we journey through this life honoring Him.
God beckons us each day with soft whispers of “come and be with me, be still and know, listen and hear my voice”- all whispers of His renewing spirit that are so needed to balance out the exhales of our day. ………………I so love your words here, Mary. Perfect. And so very true! Thanks! and hugs and blessings and love to you, my friend.
Blessed by your sweet affirmation friend! Thank you for being here and for sharing my heart on Twitter. Midweek blessings to you!
Love the photo and how words were shared so beautifully. Thank you so much for putting your timing in a special way. Bless you.
Thank you Joanne! Praying we all feel God’s inhale of grace and love this week! Blessings!
Mary, this is beautiful. I hold my breath to often, not allowing myself to fall into the inhale of His grace. I need to breathe Him in deeply. Thank you for always giving my heart that greater nudge toward Him.
God blesses me with words because He knows I need to hear it and it is a bigger blessing when others need to hear it too. I pray that we both are able to inhale the grace of God throughout this coming week. Hugs friend!
Love this quote…”God knows just what we need and desires to pull us into His inhale of grace as soon as we let go of the schedules that crowd our days. He calls us to stop, rest and let Him renew our very souls. He calls us to listen and read the promises that are ours in His word.” So true, so refreshing, great imagery…as I allow Him to pull me into His inhale of grace today…thank you for stopping by a leaving a comment at my post today from over at Faith ‘n Friends…many blessings to you 🙂
Thank you for your encouragement and blessing of your presence. May we draw in a huge breath of God this weekend to slow us down and remind us that life is not always about the big exhale. Blessings!
What a beautiful, refreshing post! I am so thankful to have stopped here tonight. Thank you for sharing what God placed upon your heart and for the dear, sweet comments you left on my blog. They meant SO much to me. God bless you. 🙂
I was so blessed by your post. Thank you for your encouragement and presence here. May God bless your weekend with His sweet breath of rest and renewal.
Did you know that the same word for “Spirit” in both the Hebrew and Greek is “breath,” Mary? This fits perfectly with what you are challenging us to remember and do. We must let God’s spirit of grace and love flow through us and be exhaled upon all we meet. Great and inspiring thoughts, sweet friend! I hope that you are feeling encouraged by the Lord’s breath on your life!
I am feeling very encouraged by the breath of the spirit in my life. God’s amazing words and promises have seen me through some very rough moments. Praying that God blesses your weekend with His spirit of rest and restoration.
Love you and your lesson on what the word “spirit” means in Hebrew. Blessings friend!
Thanks very much for sharing this post with us Mary. In this very busy world we now live in, we need these constant reminders to get with God for grace and strength to live life like we ought to.
The slowing down, breathing in and letting go is a rhythm that many of us do not choose in our everyday. We let busy schedules and status quo lead the way instead of looking to God’s agenda for our lives. Blessed that you stopped by and shared.
I didn’t realise I was holding my breath until I read your perfect for me post today…..God has used this post to minister to me at a time of intense need….may God Bless you abundantly!!
As you exhale and release the messy, I pray that God’s spirit fills you with a deep gulp of His love and grace. I am blessed you stopped here. May your weekend be filled with grace and love.
I think the Lord is trying to drive home the point that >>in Him<< I find strength and rest. This is the third time the theme came up today and tugged at my heart. Thank you for your perspective, Mary, and scripture to feed my thirsty soul. I guess I needed a few different reminders to slow down, exhale, and breath in His grace. God bless, Tina
I know God sends reminders to me often and is probably thinking “why isn’t she hearing this the first time?”. God is persistent and I am glad that the message you needed to hear was repeated in different ways to to breathe Him in and exhale everything else. Blessings for a beautiful weekend!
Mary, love this: “When life is one big exhale, God’s sweet breath of grace & love restores and renews” – what great truth my heart needed to hear. Have a great day #RaRaLinkup
Kim
Hope your week has been blessed and the breath of God has set the rhythm for your days. May God bring rest and restoration as you move toward the weekend and Sabbath. Blessings!
okay, my dear friend, this post I’m trying to write . . . this post of yours totally expresses where my heart is at. Time with Him and in His Word changes EVERYTHING so we need to make time for Him. So loved this post. Love YOU. xoxo
Thank you Beth! God has other plans for you at the moment and spending time with your family is your priority. It is a beautiful thing that God allows us to break from normal to follow Him and honor Him in different ways. I am blessed that these words affirmed for you where you at this time in your life. Amen to God! Love you!
Mary, your post is wooing me into deeper connection with Jesus. For that – I love it. It is beckoning me to “come.” Thank you. Keep sharing this message. I cheer you greatly from the #RaRalinkup at Purposeful Faith. You share love and deep meaning.
Thank you Kelly! Your words of encouragement touch deeply and affirm the words that I am blessed to write. Your blogging home draws me in each week and the community is such a great encouragement to me and others. Sabbath blessings!
God is surely speaking to me through you, Mary, and confirming that 2015 is the year of REST for me! Or rather, for exploring the balance of work and rest, giving and receiving, spending and being renewed. It’s true that His word is one of the surest ways to avail ourselves of His power. Blessings on your week.
Thank you for your sweet encouragement. One of the blessings of this blogging community is how we hear just what we need through the words of our blogging friends. God loves getting our attention and He chooses avenues that He know we will travel down. Blessings and grace to you!
Just reading your words today made me breathe deep … thanks for speaking to that blessed rhythm that does nothing but give life and a sane perspective.
Lovely, lovely, Mary!
How I crave a sane perspective and I thank God that He so willingly will share it with us. His beautiful promises and truths are the inhale that we need to allow ourselves each day. Blessings dear Linda!
Thank you so much for this reminder I have been putting of inhaling for days. Scheduling some time later to sit, breathe deep, refresh and renew. God spoke striaght to me through this today – cheerleading you at #RaRaLinkup
Blessed to know that God’s voice spoke to you through these words. I feel the need to do a lot of inhaling myself and it is only through giving myself the time that this will take place. Blessings and thank you for being here!
Love this! Inhaling God’s love and restoration, exhaling His love into the world. Being still and allowing God to refill and refuel us has been on my heart (and in my writing) too – was instantly drawn to this today.
Thank you Kathryn! Leaning in close, being still and listening and shutting out the world seems to be on my heart too. God breathes His life into us everyday but when we intentionally let His breath of love and grace fill us we are renewed and reenergized to make it through the day.Thursday blessings to you!